There are nets on 75M and 40M (MidCars, EastCars, WestCars) and the Intercontenental net on 20M. If I'm in motion I generally listen to and check into a net because I find it pretty distracting to be tuning in signals or making adjustments to the rig.

Joel, with a Technician class license you can only operate SSB phone on ten meter HF. If you want to operate on the other bands (voice) you need to upgrade to General or Extra. If you already have then great. Forty meters is a great all day / all night band.

AA4PB is on the money, go for bands that are reliable, 40 metres, 80 (75) metres for local(ish) ragchews and for longer distance 20 or 17 metres. You want bands that are open when you are commuting, I dont think 10 is reliable enough at this time of year.

The highest frequency band that has propagation, mainly because it is easier to have an efficient mobile antenna on the shorter wavelength bands.

I am in the process of installing an HF mobile setup in my pickup and I plan to operate 10 meters during the day when it is open, 17 meters during the day when 10 meters in not open, and 40 meters during the early morning and later afternoon hours when 17 meters is not open.

Thank you for your replies. I have purchased Mr west's book for the General license and will upgrade in a few months. I also thought about Morse code but i haven't explored that area yet. I drive a Honda Fit. One concern is the antenna. I am using a Icom 706M2G with a Wilson magmount CB antenna i matched to the radio for 10 meters. This setup works excellent as i have no trouble talking all over the world, I go to work at 2 PM California time and go home at 2 AM. At 2 AM there is nothing on 10 meters but when i go to work the band is active, the last few weeks i have talked to Japan and i heard Austrailia too. The big consideration for me is the antenna setup on the car, The Fit is a small car so i cant have a 20 foot antenna on the roof, that will be the major decision for a new HF band when i get my new license.Sorry about the choppy message.

You work my hours and at 2 am, 40m or 75 are the best bet. Probably more on 75 meters, while 40 seems to have a lack of SSB signals lately. The Wilson is not going to work at all ? on 75 metersso you will have to get serious about the antenna. Go to this site ( ( K0BG.com ) ) and read all about mobile setups. One of the best sites around and I pulled a lot of good info from Alan. Seriousmobile Hams will tell you antenna selection and the install is everything ! Good luck.

There really isn't any 'best' HF mobile band, it depends on just what/who you enjoy talking to. The lower the band the more difficult or awkward the antenna gets though (as in bigger). Is there any particular band you spend a lot of time on at home? - 'Doc

There really isn't any 'best' HF mobile band, it depends on just what/who you enjoy talking to. The lower the band the more difficult or awkward the antenna gets though (as in bigger). Is there any particular band you spend a lot of time on at home? - 'Doc

Actually this is pretty easy to answer. 20m as it is a good balance of antenna efficiency and band openings. 40 would be second choice.

Logged

--------------------------------------Ham since 1969.... Old School 20 WPM Extra

I think the best bands for mobile are 40 and 20 meters. The antenna efficiency on these bands are reasonable and the propagation is very reliable and consistent.

I think like others here that another band with with great mobile potential is 17 meters. The problem is that 17 meters is generally starved of stations because the majority of the ham populationstill only have pre warc band antennas. However this is slowly starting to change with antennas like ultrabeams, steppir's and optibeams becoming popular choices. 17 meters operates more like a spotlightband with openings and closing into distinct areas as the day goes by. The lack of QRM is a big bonus on 17 meters.

20 meters can open everywhere at once causing both an abundance of stations and QRM. Its really a double edge sword band but its my favorite band for mobile. It seems to be the favorite mobile band in the USA just judgingthe number of stations that i work. I seem to work a lot of stations in the USA on 14.185 it seems to be a mobile station hangout.

Why I like 20 meters, is that even lousy antennas when mounted high up on the roof will work well. 20 meters seems to cover up all the sins of bad mobile antenna installation. This is not the case on 40 meters where if you install the antenna poorly your results will very poor. A manstick stuck up on the roof produces good results. Even thought these antennas are bottom of the heap in terms of performance. I have found that hamsticks work good enough on 20 meters. I work more stations with hustlers and hamsticks than stations with the big professional screwdriver antennas.

Another factor to consider is where exactly you do your mobile operations. The noise and has in the cities and suburbs can be horrendous on the lower bands. 20 meters does not suffer as much as 40 meters and lower.If you just like ragchewing to local stations any band will do that has propagation.

There really isn't any 'best' HF mobile band, it depends on just what/who you enjoy talking to. The lower the band the more difficult or awkward the antenna gets though (as in bigger). Is there any particular band you spend a lot of time on at home? - 'Doc

Actually this is pretty easy to answer. 20m as it is a good balance of antenna efficiency and band openings. 40 would be second choice.

Radiating a GOOD signal on HF mobile is a challenge when compared to even a very modest fixed station. I started HF mobile in 1973 with a Drake TR4. Generally the lower in frequency you go the less of a signal you will radiate (lower antenna efficiency). Often the best HF mobile systems only radiate around 5% efficiency on 75 meters. Many mobile systems radiate even less.

For general all around use I would recommend 40 meters. Seems there is always somebody on that band. Not so for all the others.

Of course when the bands are open, 10 meters is a lot of fun. But 10 meters has not been open reliably in 20 years. As an old timer I remember the sunspot cycles in 1959 (SWL then) and 1970 (HAM then). IMO those were the last really good cycles. During those years 20 - 10 meters were open to some part of the globe all day and all night. Those were the days!

Thank you for the replies, I think for now i will stay on 10 meters. I have a good setup now with a Icom 706M2G, a wilson mag mount CB antenna (tuned to 28.400) and a Marine battery in the back Of my Honda Fit. It is very rare that i cant contact someone on 10 meters that i hear. The last 2 days has been dead, no activity at all. Does anybody use the 10 meter repeaters?

The last 2 days has been dead, no activity at all. Does anybody use the 10 meter repeaters?

Not much if the band's not open. Problem is when it is, there tends to be a lot of interference from the multiple machines on each frequency. I put a 29.60 simplex remote base on my repeater years ago and that seems to work out pretty well. But if the band gets really busy it suffers from the same interference issues. But as above, if the band's dead, you're pretty much done.

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